Unveiled
by AllTheNamesAreTakenAlready
Summary: Well, it's happened. The muggles have discovered the magical world and they are not pleased. The witches and wizards are not happy about it either. Our heroes children have to grow up right in the middle of it all.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everybody. Firstly, I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Secondly, I hope you guys enjoy this story. Please let me know what you think of it and thanks for reading. _

How long can you hide in plain sight? In the end, no matter how well you are camouflaged, someone with keen eyes is always going to find you out. No matter how hard people close their eyes and refuse to see, there will always be one inquisitive soul to shatter the illusion. For the magical community, their unveiling came in the form of a young witch.

She had been caught doing magic by some muggles. It violated magical law but there was nothing particularly unusual about her actions. She just needed to wait for the magical clean-up crew to patch things up and then life would go on. The magical community could go on ignoring the muggle community and the muggles could live on in their blissful ignorance. That is the way that it should have happened. Instead, things became a little bit messy.

The muggles had trussed her up and taken her away. Several days and fanatic phone calls and a few forced demonstrations later, she had been moved to a high-tech government facility. In the height of barbarity parading as discovery, she had been forced to tell everything she knew. They did experiments on her, gathered proof of their findings and then they spilled what they had discovered to the media.

It was a disaster and yet, it still should not have happened the way it had. Had the magical community simply allowed the dust to settle, they would probably have retained their anonymity. The wild theories flying around could have been dismissed by most people as craziness and attention grabbing, the same way most people simply dismissed stories of alien encounters. Witches and wizards were creatures of fantasy and if things had gone slightly differently, they would have stayed that way.

Unfortunately, when news got out about the witch, when she returned, broken and beaten, to her family, tempers grew. She was all over the magical news and outrage was felt throughout the entire community. No one failed to be horrified by what had happened. Despite the urgings of the Minister for Magic, in spite of the more reasonable voice of the majority, small groups of individuals had decided to take matters into their own hands. It was perfectly understandable but rash and stupid all the same. They waged small wars on the muggles, destroying facilities like the one that the witch had been taken to and they did it with magic. The secret was out.

The story could not be contained by magical means, it had progressed past that. The tale had spread like wild fire and the internet and other forms of modern communication had fanned the flames. You could not charm the entire world into forgetting. No, the information was out there and the damage was done.

In the seven years since these events, the world had changed. Scorpius had been ten when it had happened and he could still recall the simmering anger that every witch and wizard had shared, that he had felt even though he was too young to have much of a political opinion. As soon as they had been revealed to the world, there had been riots. The muggles had rioted and the wizards had formed angry mobs of their own. People on both sides had been slaughtered and sensible people cowered behind locked doors, praying that their houses would remain closed to the outside world through the violence.

Even after this had settled, things were far from calm. The muggles started shouting about things like equal rights and discrimination, subterfuge and lies. They wanted to be treated the same and with all the same rights as the magical community had. This had sparked a lot of resentment in the wizards, as in an attempt to patch things up, the Minister for Magic had passed this motion. Muggles now wandered through the streets of places like Hogsmeade, tripping over their startled feet at what they found there and all the while they scorned it all, hated and resented wizards for what they had.

Schools were a problem. The separation of magical students and muggles was a controversial issue. Some people argued heatedly that all children should receive the same education, regardless of magical talent or the lack of it. Other people just wanted their kids the hell away from children of the opposite caste.

There was a lot of bad blood between wizards and muggles now; they hated each other quite openly and rarely interacted. They had muggle streets, wizard streets. The two hated to live near each other. There were shops that muggles frequented that magical people scarcely visited and the opposite was true as well. When the two groups did interact, it was very rarely pleasant. Muggles who had known about the magical community before their unveiling were outcast as turncoats and anyone who had married someone of opposite magical status was ostracised. Muggles who gave birth to magical children were treated the same way that their children were in the magical world. Personally, Scorpius was just glad that he could get away from it all for most of the year, while he was at Hogwarts.

Rather unfortunately, he was not at Hogwarts now. It was the summer holidays, the only time of year that he couldn't stay at school. It was probably saying something, given the current global atmosphere, that it was more pleasant to walk through all of the hatred and disdain outside than it was to sit in the same at home. Inside his house's walls, those feelings were had been allowed to stagnate; at least out in the real world, the unpleasantness was delivered in a more dilute form.

Scorpius thought of home and wished again that he was back at school. His father was home at the moment and when the old bastard wasn't drowning disappointment at his son in drink, he was telling Scorpius what a failure he was in person. Whenever his father, who had been in Azkaban for most of Scorpius's young life – stupid deatheater – started one of his rages, Scorpius couldn't help but react in kind. Shouting matches like this were a common occurrence in the Malfoy household but they always ended the same way. Scorpius would be reduced to nothing, stripped by cruel words until he felt so hollow that he had his own echo. Then he would be sent to his room, which he would promptly sneak out of in the only form of rebellion he had left. When he eventually came home, things would naturally become even worse.

Scorpius defied his father at every opportunity. The man was a criminal and a hypocrite as well as a terminal idiot; Scorpius would _not _be like him. Unfortunately, any child that Draco Malfoy didn't see as a perfect model of his traitorous self was a failure, a disgrace. So Scorpius took on his label whole-heartedly and endeavoured to be the best disgrace that he possibly could be. He had dyed his blond hair black a couple of years back and gelled it into little spikes. He didn't actually like it that way; he looked like a prat. Still, it upset his dad so much that it was worth it. The biggest kick in the teeth that he had delivered to his father was his choice in friends; since his first day at Hogwarts, he and Albus Potter had been inseparable.

Scorpius closed his eyes and tried to banish the images of his father. The old geezer was _not _going to follow him out here, even in spirit. He thought about Hogwarts instead, so violently that it banished all other thought. He thought about Albus and the other Potters, the Weasleys, who seemed to like him in spite of his name and his house. He thought of Quidditch, of how he would win the cup for Slytherin this year whether Albus his father's talent at Seeking or not. He− someone let out a high-pitched yelp. Scorpius blinked. He had just walked straight into someone and knocked them over. Nice one, Scorpius. Really smooth.

"Sorry," he muttered and held out his hand to the unfortunate girl.

She took it and pulled herself up.

"You seem preoccupied. Maybe it's too much for you to walk and think at the same time as you breathe. I suggest you stop one of them,"

Scorpius quirked a smile, despite the mild insult. God, she was a pretty girl. Her hair was raven-black and glossy, her skin the colour of marble and her eyes sparkled like crystals of jade. She was also unmistakably a muggle. Wizards had taken to wearing their robes in public now, just like they always had in the magical world. Her plain clothes marked her for what she was just as much as his own robes marked him. He saw her eyes flicker across him, an appraising glance and nothing more.

"You're a wizard," it wasn't a question.

He shrugged, "Learning to be, anyway," he held out a hand, "I'm Scorpius,"

She seemed a little bit stunned but she took his hand and shook it uncertainly, "Anise,"

Scorpius laughed, "It's the name that's putting you off, isn't it? You can thank my dad for that one; you can also call me Larry, everyone else does,"

Her eyebrows rose, "Why Larry?"

"Because it sounds less dicky than Scorpius and Scorpius doesn't shorten to anything good,"

Her mouth twitched as though it wanted to smile. He still couldn't get over how nice to look at she was and the spark of wry humour that lit the depths of her eyes intrigued him. It would be nice, in another world, to get to know her better. As it was, muggles and wizards couldn't coexist pleasantly. He didn't have a chance in hell with this girl.

"Do you wanna go get lunch?" he blurted.

Ah, there he went, making an idiot out of himself. Oh well, it had been worth a shot. Her eyes widened almost comically and she looked at him, more startled than if he had stared yodelling and then punched her in the face. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look, I understand…"

"No," she said suddenly.

Damn it, he had known that was coming but it still smarted. He shouldn't have set himself up for that. She saw his expression and started to talk very quickly.

"Oh! You thought…? I meant no, you've got me wrong. As in yes, I'd love to get lunch. Let's go,"

She took a few steps before his brain caught up with what had just happened. Then he grinned widely and jogged to catch up with her. Not only was he headed to lunch with a girl who may very well be some kind of Greek goddess but this would make his father rupture a vessel.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello all. I do not own Harry Potter, I'm just writing fanfic about it. Anyway, here's the second chapter to my Unveiled story. Please review_.

Anise looked at him from across the table while they waited for their food. She seemed wary of him and yet that hadn't stopped her from coming. He watched her wordlessly, still a little shell-shocked himself. She rolled the table cloth between her thumb and forefinger, watching her hands rather than Scorpius.

"So," she said, "You said you were learning to be a wizard. That means you go to Hogwarts, right?"

He nodded, though she wasn't watching him to see it, "Yeah,"

"What's it like there?" she asked, finally looking up and catching him with those jade eyes.

He shrugged, trying to ignore the feeling that she was peering into his soul.

"Uh, it's good, I guess. It's school, you know?"

She smiled, "I think so. Hogwarts has this whole fuss about houses doesn't it? We have houses at our school but we only really worry about them at our annual sports day. How do you guys do it?"

"Well, we have this magic hat…"

She laughed, a trilling, musical sound that filled the room with light, "No, really," she said, "How does it work?"

Scorpius grinned, "I'm serious. The sorting hat is old and it's been putting first years into houses since the school was founded,"

"Oh," she was taken aback.

He went on, "There's four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Gryffindor is for people too stupid to feel fear, Ravenclaw's for the eggheads, Slytherin is for backstabbing murderers and Hufflepuff is for pretty much everyone else,"

"And which house are you in?" she asked, watching him so intently that he felt like he was under interrogation.

"Umm, I'm in Slytherin,"

"For backstabbing murderers?" she asked.

"Yeah. Well, they couldn't put me in Gryffindor because I'm a complete pansy. So Slytherin it was, because I'm a sneaky son of a bitch,"

She laughed again, "Yeah, you seem really subtle,"

He sobered, "Actually, it's more because I've basically got a perfect pedigree," he sighed, "I hate pure blood wizards as a general rule. They're always insufferable, smug people,"

"Oh, so you're the perfect model, then," Anise said, with a smile to let him know that she was joking.

Their food arrived then. Scorpius didn't touch his. He was far too preoccupied watching Anise daintily pick at her salad. She looked up and caught him watching, so he wrinkled his nose dramatically. It was a bit early for him to seem that fascinated watching her do mundane things.

"Do you really like salad or do you just not like eating real people food in front of people?"

"Are you kidding?" she asked, shredding a piece of lettuce with her fingers, "You'd have to be an idiot to order a salad to seem dainty. Have you ever tried finding a dignified way to eat a lettuce leaf? It's messy stuff and there isn't really a better way to do it than eating with your hands it or stuffing the whole thing in your mouth; and God help you if it has _dressing_,"

"I've never really thought about it," he said, amused.

Anise pointed a shred of the accusing foodstuff at him, "See? No one ever thinks of these things. I bet you've also never thought about how difficult it is to climb down a wall lattice without being cut to ribbons on the roses your mum grows there,"

"Actually, I do happen to have some experience in that area; except for me it's Devil's Snare,"

Anise asked him what Devil's Snare was and when he explained, she seemed concerned. He smiled.

"The Devil's Snare bit was a joke; not a good one, seeing as you had no way of getting the reference but that's what it was. The garden lattice thing though, I do understand,"

She popped another shred of lettuce into her mouth, "Why do you sneak out?" she asked.

Scorpius shrugged, "Because my dad's an ass when he drinks,"

"Does he drink often?"

"Often enough,"

"What about when he's sober?"

"Oh. Well, when he's sober, he's an ass,"

She took a moment to digest that.

"I sneak out because I'm always grounded for sneaking out. It's a vicious circle," she said.

He grinned, "Why did you sneak out in the first place?"

"Because I decided that my curfew was dumb. It is dumb but apparently that doesn't stop me from getting grounded for breaking it,"

He laughed, "I could have told you that,"

"Yeah; where were you when I needed you to keep me out of trouble, wizard? From now on, you have to keep me from doing anything stupid and mindlessly rebellious, okay?"

"Okay,"

"And while you're at it, you can magic all my chores done,"

Scorpius laughed again and explained to her about the laws restricting magic used by underage wizards. She seemed more horrified at that than anything else, probably because it meant that she would have to fold her socks herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed. Sorry this bit took so long in coming. To anyone who is still reading, thank you for staying with me. I really appreciate it. As always, I do not own Harry Potter. **

Scorpius went back home with a light heart. Anise was good company. She was intelligent and had a good sense of humour. It was difficult to think that they were supposed to hate each other. At least, he hoped that she didn't hate him; he certainly had nothing against her. He entered his house and managed to dodge any mines along the way to his room, making it there undisturbed by belligerent family members.

His masked owl, aptly named Bandit, scratched at the outside of his window. He had a letter tied to his leg and if it were possible for an owl to have such a thing, a spark of urgency in his eyes. Scorpius opened the window and Bandit burst into the room, hooting softly and insistently. He stretched out his leg and Scorpius untied the letter that was there. Sitting down on his bed, he unrolled it. The words were scrawled so roughly that they were almost illegible and the ink was smudged with what looked like tear stains. Scorpius felt a sense of alarm as he recognised the handwriting. He started reading and his heart sank.

_Larry,_

_Something terrible has happened. I_

_I'm not sure why I'm writing this but_

_I expect this will be in the Prophet soon but I thought I'd give you a heads up. Things are about to get bad. Really bad. __ Things suck already. Life's not fair, right? Whoever said that first must have been a freaking genius to figure that one out.__ Someone's been killed; dad's been murdered in his sleep. Mum took him to St Mungo's but he was already dead and there was nothing they could do. They said it was a killing curse. We don't know who did it but it happened while we were asleep. None of us even noticed. _

_Lily hasn't come out of her room since it happened and James is just short of punching people out on the street. __I guess I've tried to cope by writing stupid letters.__ Rose and Hugo have been over but they keep being sympathetic and I can't stand it, Larry. No matter how much they tell me they're sorry, it won't bring dad back. _

_I don't know what to do.__ Anyway, I guess this is going to change things when the rest of the world finds out. I don't know how it will happen but I'm assuming that it's going to make life hard for someone somewhere. I mean, the death of a hero isn't going to just go away. People are going to be upset. Your dad will probably be a suspect, so expect it to be messy when the shit hits the fan. _

_ ASP_

ASP. Albus Severus Potter, son of the great, famous and now, late Harry Potter. Scorpius sat back, stunned. Oh no, this was not good. Harry Potter couldn't be dead. It was inconceivable. If the guy who had killed the most feared and powerful wizard in the world was going down, it would have happened fighting a horde of rabid dark wizards on steroids. He would have done it on his own and he would have taken them all down with him before he died. He couldn't have been killed quietly in his sleep. A man like that didn't just slip away in the night. No. Albus was wrong; his dad was okay. Hadn't Harry Potter played dead once before? He was just doing that again.

He reread the letter. When he had finished, he read it a third time, then a fourth. The words didn't change and Albus had clearly been beside himself with grief when he wrote it. Damn it, it had to be true. Poor Albus. Scorpius wished that they'd taken his dad instead and then immediately felt bad for it. Albus was right though; a story like this would definitely be in the Daily Prophet and it was definitely going to raise tempers. Thankfully, it couldn't have been a muggle who had killed him, not if cause of death was a magic spell. That meant that muggles and wizards probably wouldn't start beating each other to death on the streets again.

Feeling uneasy, Scorpius scribbled down a letter and sent Bandit to warn Anise, just in case. If she got beaten up by wizards in a riot, she was unlikely to want to go out with him again.


End file.
